Medical Transcriptionist - Job Description, Salary, Education and Career Guide on Becoming a Medical Transcriptionist

Behind every successful physician, there is a medical transcriptionist. Medical transcriptionists perform a variety of tasks to turn a doctor's oral report into an accurate legal medical record.

Job Description

Medical transcriptionists listen to dictation and type what they hear into a word-processing program. For example, a doctor may treat a patient and take oral notes using a recording device. The medical transcriptionist takes those notes and enters them into the patient's permanent file.
 
The position consists of much more than just putting into words what you hear. Other skills or tasks that you will use often as a medical transcriptionist include:
  • Complying with set standards: These standards apply to the style/formatting of medical records and maintenance of patient confidentiality.
 
  • Excellent grammatical skills: Medical transcriptionists often need to clean up what they hear and put it into complete sentences or organized paragraphs.
 
  • Excellent listening skills: You might be listening to a doctor coming off a 36-hour shift or someone for whom English is a second language, and you'll need to decipher what is being said.
 
  • Familiarity with computers: You will most likely be required to use particular software and programs.
 
  • Knowledge of medical terminology: While no one will expect you to pick up a scalpel and start slicing, you still have to understand what the doctor is describing. It is easier to spell sphygmomanometer (the technical term for a blood-pressure cuff) if you know what it is.
 
A certain amount of flexibility and dexterity are also required, as most transcriptionists use a headset to keep their hands free to type and a foot pedal to pause the recording devices if needed. While most medical transcriptionists work in medical offices or hospitals, you can also be a medical transcriptionist at home.
 
Telecommuting has grown very popular in the field since many healthcare professionals prefer to send dictation over the Internet. Speech-technology programs also are popular. These devices translate the spoken words into text to create the raw report. The transcriptionist proofreads the data for mistakes and puts it into the approved format. Knowing how to fill out medical forms is an important part of the job.

Salary Guide

If you pursue a medical transcriptionist career, you can expect to earn from $12 to $17 an hour. That will vary, as the lowest 10 percent earned about $10 an hour in 2006, while the top 10 percent made over $20 an hour. The average annual wage comes out to just over $31,000 a year. Medical and diagnostic laboratories usually pay the most. Physicians' offices pay the least.

Training and Education

No certification is required to become a medical transcriptionist, but it is hard to find a job without prior training. Medical transcriptionist courses are available online and at numerous colleges. Make sure any training courses are approved by the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity, which sets the industry standard.
 
Here are some of the skills students learn during their one-to-two-year medical transcriptionist training and certification:
  • anatomy and physiology
  • medical terminology
  • pharmacology
  • word processing.
 

Prior Work Experience

If you try to become a transcriptionist without taking the certification course, you must be familiar with the forms and terms used. Nurses and medical secretaries looking to transition careers often attend a refresher course and then take the certification test without sitting through the class.

Career Advancement

Experienced medical transcriptionists can move into supervisory work or even wind up teaching the certification classes. With more schooling, they also may find work as technicians for medical records and health information, medical coders or in numerous other positions in healthcare.

Related Groups and Associations

  • American Association for Medical Transcription
  • Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity
  • Medical Transcription Education Center, Inc.
 
Share |